Rubber Band Mod
From Mod Mania
Article sourced from- `The Age 22 February 2008`
Improved Rubber Band
Rubber Band mod In response to: `The Age`, 2008-22-2, elastic and Fantastic: the self-healing rubber band
The construction of rubber bands will dramatically change in the future. Technology is ever increasing it’s strangle hold on nearly all aspects of our lives. This hold even goes as far as humble office stationary. Modifications to increase ease of use, efficiency and strength, in the case of rubber band modification. This form of modding is an almost evolutionary type of change that will improve for future generations.
French scientists have been able to create a rubber band that can self heel or repair itself after it has been snapped. This new rubber can be broken and broken again many times while still being able to be constructed to its original shape. Modding in this case has been undertaken to improve the already popular and well used product for its use in an ever changing and updating society.
The new rubber bands can be made easily using fatty acids and urea that can be found in urine. These components can be made synthetically and in bulk. The short chained molecular structure that the new rubber is made up of can withstand greater forces and can bond after breaking unlike the long chained molecular structured rubber that elastic bands are made of today.
This new synthetic rubber can be easily broken down with heat which makes it extremely environmentally friendly and recyclable. If plastics can be made yet be easily broken down it makes them an extremely valuable product. With environmental issues almost ruling our lives today this is a big factor in this technological advancement. Modding many industries’ practices and processes in the future would increase efficiency and effectiveness in life today.
The article, from The Age talks about the annoyance of rubber bands that snap and become useless. I also find that they can be very painful when snapped at the wrong time but this factor won’t be saved by the healing bands. I feel the same annoyance when using old rubber bands until they snap. These new bands could save loads of plastic and rubber waste due to their healing ability.
Just think, you could break the band a countless number of times yet reuse and abuse the same material forever and ever. Fewer bands sold, reducing packaging and saving time. This mod seems to be very effective and although a rubber band may be a strange and not so important item, aspects of this enhancement can be taken from this and put into other areas.
Who knows what scientists may be able to do in the future. Many everyday products might be able to be modded so that they have healing abilities and most of all have a reusable ability that could create a never ending product range that could be used well into the future. This type of modding seems extremely futuristic yet is the technology of today, it does seem surreal.
I have found that modding is a broad category and can be interpreted in many different ways. Newspapers such as The Age have proved good resources for finding current mods and changes in society and the products that make up society. This rubber band article is one of many articles I have sourced that relate to mod mania discussion.
